It is both impossible and irresponsible to make a judgement
about something until you understand the circumstances that gave rise to and
sustain that “something”.
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| Shepparton's Maude St Mall. |
Emotional responses to and judgements about anything are
always suspect and “facts” are about as reliable as the question, who asked it
and for what reason.
Beyond that, tip into the equation realities presently
engulfing our world that left unattended will leave our built environment and
social landscapes in disarray and unrecognisable, and the outcome is then decidedly
uncertain.
Further, there are parochial contemporary troubles that
appear resolvable with a quick fix that take no account of those overarching
and unfolding changes.
Shepparton’s Maude St Mall has long been the heart of the city,
at least in a business sense, but commercial development has, in the last
decade or so, aided by compliant Local Government decisions made in a vacuum of
an understanding or recognition of a changing world, leaked from the city
centre.
Rather than attack the symptoms by re-opening the mall to
road traffic, the city council should be looking beyond this finite issue and
working to create a city that will be both viable and resilient in a world
which will be different from what exists as a blink is to a wink.
When the mall was established in the ‘80s, most thought oil
was plentiful and the intent was to spread out, using motor vehicles to cement
communities.
Creation of Shepparton’s mall was part of a nation-wide
trend that was in fact socially correct, but suffered because of powerful
commercial drives and the largely unaccountable, but strangely predictable,
behaviour or people
Oil and water shortages, aligned with the wild uncertainties
of the world’s changing climate, say to us “Don’t re-open the mall to road
traffic, rather restructure the city’s rating arrangements to allow for and
encourage mixed used in areas such as the mall (that’s living and light
commercial) along with a vastly better local public transit scheme linking to
an enriched intra-town/city public transport system”.
Historical and contemporary evidence points to the vitality
of closely settled towns and cities, producing communities that are
“fine-grained”, multi-use and socially rich.
The emphasis should be on re-shaping and re-designing
Shepparton to ensure that human energy, walking or cycling, is the principal
method of movement, meaning that everything important on a day-to-day sense was
within a 10-minute walk.
Should that be considered utopian or impracticable, consider
for a moment the difficulties of maintaining the status quo with severe
restrictions on oil, scant water supplies and wrestling with a damaged climate delivering
both wild and unpredictable weather.
The solution is in the recognition and acceptance of the facts,
and in leaving our pedestrian mall alone.
